| Assistant Editor | Gary Friedrich |
| Associate Editor | Roy Thomas |
| Colorist | Stan Goldberg |
| Cover Artist | Jack Kirby |
| Editor | Stan Lee |
| Editor In Chief | Stan Lee |
| Inker | Dick Ayers, George Bell, Paul Reinman |
| Letterer | Artie Simek, Sam Rosen |
| Penciler | Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Steve Ditko |
| Production Manager | Sol Brodsky, Morrie Kuramoto |
| Proofreader | John Verpoorten |
| Writer | Stan Lee |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Published in | New York, New York |
| Pages | 64 |
| Characters | Iron Man (Tony Stark), Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Hulk (Bruce Banner) (First appearance), The Fantastic Four:, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), Invisible Girl/Woman (Susan Storm Richards), Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Thing (Ben Grimm), Supporting Characters:, Thor (Thor Odinson) |
| Story Location | New York: New York City; Manhattan, Long Island, Queens; Flushing, The Moon: Blue Area of the Moon; Watcher's Citadel, Asgard; City of Asgard, Bifrost, New Mexico; Los Diablos Missile Base |
| Collects | "The Mysterious Molecule Man!", "The Uncanny Unicorn", "The Challenge of Loki!", "The Hulk" |
| Links | Issue link · Reprint link · Reprint link · Reprint link · Reprint link |
| Notes | 1st Story: Fantastic Four Vol 1 #20, November, 1963; "The Mysterious Molecule Man!"
2nd Story: Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #56, August, 1964; "The Uncanny Unicorn"
3d Story: Strange Tales Vol 1 #123, August, 1964; "The Challenge of Loki!"
4th Story: Incredible Hulk Vol 1 #1, May, 1962; "The Hulk"
Continuity Notes:
↑ Fantastic Four #319 reveals that the accident that created the Molecule Man interrupted the process of the creation of a Cosmic Cube by the enigmatic Beyonders making the Molecule Man an imperfect portion of the Cube's energies. The other portion was in another dimension. Per Secret Wars II #6 the accident created a pin-prick in reality that allowed the other portion of energy to view the Earth-616 universe. This allowed it to gain sentience, eventually becoming the god-like being known as the Beyonder. However these facts have been called into question by the events of New Avengers: Illuminati Vol 2 #3, which has stated that the Beyonder is really a mutant Inhuman. However this might have been a deception on the part of the Beyonder.
↑ It was later revealed in New Avengers Vol 2 #33-34 that Owen's powers were actually planned by the Beyonders as a catalyst to destroying the multiverse when they finally grew bored with creation, suggesting that all other explanations for his powers were deceptions.
↑ It is later revealed in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #11 the reason the Molecule Man initially had to focus his powers through his wand and was limited to control over inorganic matter was due to a low-self esteem creating these perceived limitations.
Banner's transformation into the Hulk depicts a monster with Grey Skin, however, immediately after in Incredible Hulk #2 the Hulk has green skin. Production wise, this was an editorial decision as it made for easy coloring. However, this was worked into continuity. Some of the following facts about these early transformations were later explored:
Incredible Hulk #324 reintroduced the Grey Hulk.
Incredible Hulk #377 revealed that the Grey Hulk was one of many parts of Bruce Banner's fractured personality.
Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #19 theorizes that the Hulk's transformations at night might have been the night-time transformations stemmed from Banner's childhood fear of the dark.
There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes here that are revealed later. The gamma bomb was secretly altered by Tony Stark as revealed in Original Sin #3.1-3.4. Stark had long forgotten because he was blackout drunk at the time.
The birth of the Hulk was also the center point of a number of chronal interferences:
The Maestro, a future version of the Hulk was sent back in time in Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect #2 and he was caught in the gamma bomb explosion, atomizing his body. The Maestro's spirit lingered as revealed in Incredible Hulk #460.
This point in time was also interfered with by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man but this plot was foiled by the Hulk of the future as seen in Indestructible Hulk #11-15. |
